Thursday, 8 December 2016

The
cash-strapped Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is struggling for
past two years to pay the salaries of employees and pensions of retired-hands.
The country’s Oil Marketing Companies have told the KSRTC to clear the dues
that have accumulated. Yet, the cash-strapped organization has remained afloat
due to the liberal help from the State Government and the borrowed money from
consortium of banks including Canara Bank and Federal Bank. Against this backdrop,
the transport corporation has come out with an out-of-the-box idea to tide over
the crisis. It has decided to issue different travel cards for the benefit of
its customers. In this blog post, we will look at the new initiative rolled out
by the transport authorities for the benefit of travelers in Kerala.

Prepaid
Cards

KSRTC has
come out with the prepaid cards to help the commuters to travel in a
hassle-free way. These cards offer unlimited travel for a month. The customers
get the option of renewing the cards by paying the required money after every
month. The prepaid cards available are in the range of Rs. 1000 to 5000. These
cards can easily be recharged either online or offline by visiting the nearby
bus stations. On purchasing the cards, the identity number of the commuters
will get printed on the prepaid cards. The commuters need to show both these
prepaid cards and their original identity cards issued by the government
authorities for the verification by the conductors. KSRTC hopes to bring down
the number of incidences of clash involving passengers and conductors with this
new system. Moreover, the cash transaction can also be avoided to a possible
extent.

Four
Types of Prepaid Cards

Depending
upon their use, the commuters can buy four types of cards. The details of the
card use will also be provided at the time of their purchase. They have to take
note of these instructions for the hassle-free travel across the state.

1000-rupees
Card: This card is called as Bronze Card. The commuters can use it for travel
in ordinary and limited stop services within a district.

1500-rupees
Card: It is called as the Silver Card. With this type of card, the commuters
can travel anywhere in ordinary and limited stop services in the state.

3000-rupees
Card: This type of card is called as Gold Card. It is primarily meant to
attract the long-distance travelers. They can travel anywhere in fast and
super-fast buses.

5000-rupees
Card: This is the most premium card available from KSRTC. Using this, people
can travel in all types of buses, including AC Volvo buses. However, KSRTC
Scania travelers cannot use any of these cards.